Trine Me
by Just A Random Pencil
Summary: Starscream. Air Commander, Megatron's top lieutenant, excellent tactician (or so he claimed). Thundercracker. The Brooder, the Thinker. Skywarp. The Idiot. Megatron didn't see a problem.
1. Chapter 1

This was inspired by the War for Cybertron game, but takes place primarily in the Prime universe, with elements of G1 mixed in. It's set a bit after the war started.

I don't own Transformers.

* * *

Humans liked to think they were the first to come up with The Meeting Room. A place where important people sat around a table and deliberated over important matters (mostly the end of the world by hostile alien invasion), presenting information on big screens, waving manila folders in the air, and slamming fists on the table to further cement their point. But no. Credit for the creation of the modern Meeting Room as known today was attributed to the Decepticons. It didn't take long before they saw a war was hard enough, but trying to run a war without any sort of organization was a nightmare.

Which was why meetings were often held in a dark, windowless room of one of Kaon's spires, usually between Megatron and the highest ranking Decepticons, such as Starscream. Second In Command, Air Commander, Lord Megatron's right servo, the best of the best, and future leader of the Decepticons as soon as Megatron was out of the picture. Soundwave and Shockwave were also present too, but the way Starscream saw it, the walking calculator and Megatron's silent shadow weren't as important as his valuable contributions.

Valuable contributions like:

"It's no wonder the attack failed!" Starscream slammed a fist onto the table. "If you knew _anything_ about Seekers, you'd know you can't just send them to the front line and expect victory!"

Across on the other end, sitting in the biggest chair (because of course the one calling the shots got the more prestigious and comfy chair), Megatron was massaging his temple. Fighting a war was actually rather difficult, and Starscream's screeching was not helping. "Then what do you suggest?" He asked, voice low and menacing.

Honestly, anyone with a strong sense of self-preservation would've seen the signs of danger and made a tactical retreat. While Starscream typically counted himself among those types, today wasn't the case. When the SIC jumped up from his seat to say his piece he really hadn't thought of any evidence to back up his argument. So his processor had gone blank.

"Uh…" _Say something smart! This is the perfect chance to shine and get a better chair, one that won't give my backstruts such a crick after every meeting._

"Well, Starscream?" _Though everyone else looks pretty comfortable…what if Megatron had my chair made like this on_ _ **purpose**_ _?!_

Everyone was staring at the SIC expectantly.

 _Say something!_

"TRINES!"

Megatron quirked an eyebrow ridge. "Trines." He repeated flatly.

"Yes," Starscream straightened up. "Trines." The Seeker said again, trying to sound cool and composed to recover some degree of dignity after that blunder.

"When 3 Seekers bond to each other, they form a trine. It's the way we've done it for millennia. A trine can share thoughts and information with each other instantaneously. It's how they can react and act quickly and cohesively when in flight. We've always worked best in trines, so if you want your Seeker armada efficient and deadly to destroy those blasted Autobots once and for all, you need trines."

It was then the SIC realized the whole time he was talking Megatron's optics had been progressively narrowing to crimson slits. And Starscream had been working for Megatron long enough to know it was like a grenade countdown, but for the warlord's rage. After all, it wasn't coincidence that he was positioned across from Megatron, where the warlord could keep an optic on him and react accordingly should he find it necessary.

Starscream was halfway through slowly positioning himself to bolt from his chair when Megatron suddenly said.

"Shockwave. I want you to organize all the Seekers into trines. Immediately."

"Yes, Lord Megatron." The cyclops nodded and took his leave, probably already running the calculations in his processor like it was nothing out of the ordinary for Lord Megatron to listen to Starscream's advice.

 _All the Seekers_. Something about the way he said it made it sound…almost as if…

"Wait!" Starscream snapped out of his shock, optics going wide. "Lord Megatron. You can't possibly mean me too!"

He always believed to have seen the worst of Megatron by now. But this was something Starscream never could have seen coming, and would have gladly taken an angry Megatron over this any solar-cycle. Because no amount of physical pain could ever hope to compare to the evil, slag-eating smirk that would forever plague Starscream's recharge for the rest of his existence.

"Of course I do. You've said it yourself, it's the best tactical way to manage the Seeker armada. Consider it…" Megatron waved his hand a bit, thinking of the perfect word. "…a _promotion._ "

 _Promotion?!_

Starscream bristled at the word. This was insulting! He was the Second in Command! The only promotion he wanted was to become Leader of the Decepticons, Lord Starscream! Emperor of Destruction! Huh, that actually had a nice ring to it…

Before he could speak his mind to say what's what, Megatron shifted his attention towards the TIC on his right.

"Soundwave, you know what to do."

* * *

Megatron judged the two Seekers brought before him with a long piercing stare.

 _So this is it, then,_ Thundercracker thought. _Primus decided I am to be one with the All-Spark. Or perhaps I shall end up in the Pit, who knows, maybe there is nothing beyond and we merely made this all up to comfort us from the unavoidable fate that awaits each and every one of us. The game of life is rigged…_

Skywarp was not as calm and serene as Thundercracker. Though standing straight, he was actively looking around at everything. Thundercracker, Starscream, Soundwave, the Decepticon logo looking down on everyone from the ceiling, the little scratch on the corner of the table.

 _If this about what happened in Polyhex, I'm scrapped! Just gotta play it cool, as long as I don't make optic contact with Lord Megatron, he'll never find out! Wait… isn't Soundwave some sort of mind-reader? Right, then I have to not think about-Frag, I'm thinking about it again!_

"Hmm…are you sure these are the… _best_ candidates?"

The ever silent Soundwave nodded. According to the data packet the TIC sent him, Thundercracker was notorious for being a very contemplative individual who spent large amounts of time alone. And Skywarp was an idiot.

"Very well." He pointed at each of the three Seekers and barked. "You! You and you! Form a trine."

"With _these_ fools?" Starscream scoffed as he crossed his arms and looked up haughtily. "I'd rather offline!"

"That can be arranged." Megatron's fusion cannon glowed.

"No-no-no! It's merely a figure of speech." Starscream frantically tried to come up with a valid excuse. He refused to get trined with those two!

"My _liiiiiege_ ," The SIC stressed the words out, stretching the letter I to the highest decibel his screechy voice box could go. "It's just not so _siiiiiiiiimple_. Forming a Trine takes a long time, why, there's dozens of complex… rituals and-and ceremonies. Not to mention the-"

Megatron wasn't buying it.

The Decepticon leader rolled his optics. "To my understanding, a Trine consists of 3 Seekers, does it not?"

"Well, I suppose when you look at it that way…yes." Starscream reluctantly admitted.

"And I see three Seekers," Megatron gestured towards them with one dramatic sweep of his arm.

"Right there."

Skywarp not very discretely stepped aside, as if getting out of the range from the pointing could miraculously get him out of this situation. Thundercracker ran a servo down his faceplate, shaking his helm.

This was going to be a disaster.

* * *

So that was my take on how Starscream, TC, and Skywarp (who clearly are a very dysfunctional team from what's seen in the game War for Cybertron), become a trine.

I'm pretty sure Megatron made them into a trine just to make Starscream's life harder.


	2. Chapter 2

When I first did Trine Me, I meant to leave it as a one-shot. But then I looked over the reviews and saw one person ask for a continuation, and I knew I couldn't leave that person hanging.

After over a month of between coming up with a couple more ideas and working on other fanfics, I'm back and ready to continue where I left off.

This takes place a few hours after the events of Trine Me.

So shout-out to that one person and I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Sprawled across his large berth with his arms crossed, Starscream was having a glaring competition with the ceiling-and winning by the way. He could hear the oil quietly bubbling in his private wash-rack. It was almost ready. There was really nothing like a hot oil tub to make everything better.

Then someone knocked at his door.

"Go to the Pit!" Starscream snarled.

"It's us. Your trine." Said one of his unwanted trinemates-Thundersnapper or whatever his name was.

"Obviously." He deadpanned. "In that case, go to the _fragging_ Pit!"

Silence.

Knock. Knock. _Just ignore it_.

Pause.

 _Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock._

Starscream growled and jumped out of his berth, stomping across his massive room. He practically smashed the wall panel next to the door. It hissed open.

"What?!"

It was then he realized they were each carrying a box with a few belongings in them.

"Lord Megatron assigned us to live with you." Thundercracker simply said. They invited themselves in, ignoring Starscream's squawking protests.

"Woah, this place is amazing!"

"Not much of a surprise." Thundercracker remarked. "High ranking officers don't live in the barracks as we do."

"As we _used_ to." Skywarp corrected, unceremoniously dumping his box and its contents on top of Starscream's desk. He spotted the open wash-rack. "Hey, is that a hot oil tub?"

"No! Don't go in there-"

Too late. With a running start, Skywarp jumped into the tub, splashing hot oil everywhere. "Oh yeah, that's the good stuff. Sure glad we're gonna live here forever!"

With more care, Thundercracker placed his box on the desk, opened it to grab a datapad and went to sit on the edge of Starscream's berth.

"I suppose it won't be terrible. By the way, I call dibs on the berth."

While Starscream was stuck in his horrible vision, in reality, Thundercracker and Skywarp were still standing outside.

Shifting the box to hold it with one arm, Skywarp waved a servo in front of Starscream's face. Nothing. No response. Starscream was absolutely still, frozen in a catatonic state.

"Maybe if I poke him, he'll move."

"I wouldn't do that."

"I'm going to poke him." Skywarp decided. He slowly reached out with his digit, inching ever so closer…

Starscream shuddered with a gasp, coming back to life. He blinked, missing when Skywarp quickly retracted his servo.

"Hey! You're back. So, you gonna let us in?"

The gray Seeker stared at them for a long while, optics narrowing. "Nope." _Slam!_

Thundercracker and Skywarp stood outside a few seconds and looked at each other with the same thought in mind. Well, this is awkward.

The door opened.

"Wait, Megatron said _what!?_ "

* * *

"Indeed, I ordered Thundercracker and Skywarp to move in with you in your quarters." Megatron knew that if there was one thing Starscream hated, it was not being paid attention. Nothing showed more disinterest than not looking at Starscream.

Hence why he had his back towards the SIC, servos clasped behind his back. Also, to hide his smug smirk from Starscream's view. Not to mention the undoubted frustration Starscream had to feel since Soundwave's mere presence was the only thing stopping him from shooting Megatron in the back. Who said you couldn't multitask?

Megatron was going to make a point and had no intention of letting the Seeker know he was doing all of this on purpose just to see him suffer.

The warlord could imagine Starscream's furious face as he demanded, "Well why wasn't Iinformed?!"

"It may have part to do with the fact you took your leave rather abruptly." The Decepticon leader suggested.

Starscream gaped, at a loss for words. True, he had stormed out of this very room, the meeting room, shortly after Megatron announced them to be a trine. Still…

"But why _together_?"

"I had Soundwave look into trines. Apparently, trines traditionally live together because," Megatron glanced left, over at the information displayed on Soundwave's visor, " _being in close proximity of each other will foment stronger ties of camaraderie, loyalty and trust between trinemates._ "

He dismissively waved a servo, looking back out towards the wall. "Of course, I don't need to tell you this, you as a Seeker yourself would already know all about that. It's why you had _carefully_ thought everything out when you advised trines."

"Er, yes, that's true."

"Then there is no issue with these new arrangements, correct?" Megatron turned around and finally looked at Starscream straight in the optics, gauging his reaction.

"Correct!" His faceplates were starting to ache from the forced smile. "Well, I'll be going to, uh, get those ties of friendship started. My liege." He tacked on, giving out a somewhat rushed half-bow before leaving as fast as he possibly could without making it look like he was trying to get away from what had been a most embarrassing situation.

Once again alone in the meeting room, Megatron snickered. "Soundwave, you recorded that right?"

Ping!

The warlord smirked. "Perfect."

* * *

Screech!

"This," Starscream pointed down.

"…is a line." He finished dragging his heel across the metal floor. Thundercracker and Skywarp cringed at the sound. It was almost as painfully grating to the audios as Starscream's voice.

"You will stay on that side and _maybe_ I won't claw your optics out. I'll have you know right now that I am displeased with this arrangement."

"Likewise." Thundercracker said, looking down at the line with a frown. It barely qualified as a line, it was uneven and veered off in a sharp curve towards the end, sealing them in a tiny corner with barely enough room to stand.

"Yeah, we're a trine now Screamer." Skywarp gave the entire room a look over and asked, "Shouldn't we all have the same amount of space?"

"Silence! And don't call me that." Starscream scowled.

Skywarp grinned. "Or what? This is _our_ corner, you can't cross the line."

" _I_ drew the line, _I_ make the rules! You will show respect to your commanding officer!"

Thundercracker stared quizzically. "Since when are you the leader?"

"Since I appointed myself that's when!" Starscream snapped. "I'm in charge here! It's my room!"

"I think you mean _our_ room, Screamer." Skywarp looked over Starscream's shoulder. "Hey, is that a hot oil tub?"

Starscream was about to lash out with, 'Nah, it's the Allspark which I've kept in my wash-rack the whole time. Turns out, it looks and works _exactly_ like a hot oil tub. Who would've guessed it huh?'

But then it occurred to him that the hot tub had been on for what was now a very long time.

* * *

"As you know Soundwave, I have every intention of making Starscream suffer as much as possible."

Megatron paused as he heard a faint but unmistakably the sound of an explosion from above the meeting room. It was the sound of his plan's success.

"So here's my idea…"

* * *

Let's just say this is why you don't leave oil unsupervised! In the end, Starscream's line didn't last long.

I think I understand how trines work, but my knowledge of trines comes mostly from a combination of research and what I've read in other fanfics. This is sort of my own head-canon.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I'm so glad I get to finally share this one with you all. Chapter 3 takes place some days after the events of the previous chapter.

As always, Transformers isn't mine.

Enjoy!

* * *

 _This is Thundercracker's mission log…_

 _There was energon detected in the Sea of Rust. It's faint but at this point in the war, keeping even the smallest vein from the Autobots can be an advantage in the long run._

 _Lord Megatron tasked us with investigating the signal. It's typically drone work, which is why I suspect it's more about us working together than about the energon. Or he might be trying to piss off Starscream. If that's the case, I can confirm it is working._

 _We haven't even gotten to the Sea of Rust yet, and things aren't looking very good._

 _I don't know how much longer we can last._

 _This might be my first and final log..._

The transport ship only had two seats. Starscream naturally claimed the pilot's seat. Skywarp was in the other, leaving Thundercracker to stand next to the drill in the cargo hold at the back. At least he had the privacy to type in his personal datapad. Still, Seekers and cramped spaces didn't mix.

" _So_." Skywarp drummed his digits against his knee. "We there yet?"

Starscream tightened his grip on the steering wheel, enough to leave dents. "Ask that one more time and I will throw you out the airlock in stasis cuffs!" He paused before smirking. "Actually, why don't you? I _insist_."

"Oh uh…" He glanced out at the thick glass in the front. "Looks like we're here already!"

"Finally." The SIC grumbled as he directed the ship downwards while Skywarp slipped towards the back.

"Hey Thundercracker, you don't think he was serious about the airlock thing, right?"

The blue Seeker sub-spaced his personal datapad before looking up to meet Skywarp dead in the optics. "I think we both know the answer to that."

The ship jostled, hard.

They had arrived in the Sea of Rust.

* * *

 _Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

Starscream grimaced at every step he was forced to take, feeling every bit of rust grinding his gears.

Thundercracker and Skywarp just watched in utter amusement. Pfft. High ranking officers. Never used to getting dirty.

Skywarp grinned. "What's the matter Screamer? It's just a bit of _rust_."

"Don't call me that!" He scowled, bristling at the nickname. "And don't just stand there you fools, get the driller! Honestly, do I have to do everything myself?"

Starscream stormed off, muttering curses about incompetents and slagging rust.

It was actually surprisingly easy to get the driller off the ship. All they had to do was open the cargo hold ramp and push it down.

The hard part was turning it on.

Skywarp hopped on the driller, and took a double take at the sheer amount of buttons, levers and switches at the console, way too much for a driller in his opinion.

"Right. Let's see…" His hand hovered over all the controls. Nothing looked of more importance. _Scrap, if only these things had labels or something…_

"Skywarp, you don't know how to drive that."

"Pfft. Yeah I do." Thundercracker raised an eyebrow ridge. "Ok I don't, but you don't know either!"

"Which is why I downloaded an instructions manual on how operate energon drillers." Taking out his datapad, Thundercracker scrolled down to the right section. "It says here you start by…"

The purple seeker stopped paying attention and rolled his optics, Thundercracker's voice fading away to a mumble in the background.

"I'm gonna push this random button and see what it does." He pushed it before Thundercracker could tell him no, right as Starscream stomped around the ship and demanded. "What is taking so long?"

The driller roared to life, treads churning up rust right at Starscream who _shrieked_ like he'd been attacked with scraplets.

"Get it off! Get it off! Argh! It's in my optics!" He jumped and flailed, frantically wiping it off his body.

 _I'm adding this to my log._

 _It has now been a whole breem since the mission officially began._

 _We're screwed._

* * *

Understandably, Starscream took over the driller, taking advantage over the fact of not having to walk in the rust.

While Soundwave was able to triangulate the energon signal to a relatively small general area, the exact location was unknown. Hence, the energon tracker. It could accurately pinpoint where energon was, but only worked within a short range. Or it _would_ , if Starscream could get it working.

The SIC shook the device, whacking it hard against the edge of the driller's console. "It's not working!"

"Maybe you should try turning it on." Thundercracker suggested.

"Don't tell me what I already know. Ah there, finally." Starscream waved the tracker every now and then to figure out where to go. Eventually, he parked the driller and stepped off. The energon tracker was now beeping nonstop.

"This is where the reading is strongest." He snapped his claws. "You two start digging."

"Wait, and what are you gonna do?" Skywarp asked.

" _Obviously._ " Starscream scoffed. "As leader of this trine, I'll be supervising from up here."

"Hey that's not fair! Lord Megatron said we were supposed to work together."

"' _Lord Megatron said we were supposed to work together'"_ Starscream mimicked Skywarp's words in a high-pitched, whiny voice. "Megatron isn't here right now." He smugly pointed out with a sneer.

Unknowingly to all of them, Laserbeak was watching, had been the whole time, and transmitting the feed live to Megatron himself in Kaon.

The warlord was at the throne room in his rightful seat, watching everything displayed on a giant screen with Shockwave and Soundwave standing dutifully to Megatron's left and right respectively. The room was naturally dark and ominous, usually used to intimidate, but in this occasion provided the perfect setting to kick back, get an Energon cube, and enjoy the show.

As per usual, Soundwave was absolutely silent and still. If the TIC was actually paying attention to what Laserbeak was recording, or held as much interest as Megatron did in seeing Starscream fail, he certainly didn't show it.

"My liege." Shockwave said, turning to face Megatron. "I fail to see the logic of planting a false Energon signal, sending Starscream's trine on a mission destined to fail, and then have Laserbeak transmitting the feed live to all Decepticons currently in Kaon."

Not that the scientist was against it. For once, Megatron was actually in a good mood. At least, the closest thing to a good mood that the Decepticon leader could achieve. A normal Cybertronian burdened with emotions would probably say it was scary.

There were still many unknown variables, but what data Shockwave did possess suggested that the phenomenon began shortly after the Seekers were organized in trines. One thing was for sure. The logic behind Megatron's idea eluded him, hence his inquiry.

The warlord tore his gaze away from the screen. "Well Shockwave, the purpose is that they learn to cooperate with each other. As the most prominent trine among the Seekers and the Decepticons, they set the example to everyone else, which is why it must be viewed by everyone."

"That is…logical."

Among the troops in Kaon, were two Vehicons currently off duty and standing in a hallway, staring at a small monitor on the wall. There were monitors practically everywhere, useful for when Lord Megatron was in one of inspirational speech moods and wanted to broadcast it.

"I bet my cube of high grade Thundercracker's going to snap first. You?"

"Starscream. Or I'll do your next five shifts of monitor duty." The Vehicon gave his comrade a quizzical look. Or as quizzical as he could possibly look, given the fact drone faces weren't all that expressive. "Why Thundercracker? He's the most, you know, normal one."

"Word of advice. Watch out for the sane ones."

The Vehicon who betted on Starscream didn't know it yet, but one day he'd stand out for always just being around there in the background whenever something important was happening. He was to have his own occasional small moments in the spotlight, and sometimes even have a few lines of dialogue thrown in the plot.

Because call it whatever you want - destiny, fate, the will of Primus, the universe, or the power known as The Canon - but he was to be known in the distant future as…

Steve.

* * *

With the tunneling well underway and the driller long gone under the surface, Starscream shifted his attention to inspect his claws. They glinted under the harsh sun, and to his displeasure, made the rust stuck on them look all that more obvious.

Considering he had nothing else to do at the moment, Starscream put down the energon tracker and started picking the filth from his claws. He was just about done when he felt rust hit him right in the chassis. "Watch where you throw that!"

"That wasn't us." Thundercracker quietly said.

He jumped, turning around to see the two buffoons on the surface, caked in rust. By the looks of it, they had gone back to the ship for an unauthorized break while he wasn't looking and got a cube of energon, _which was also an unauthorized action_. Starscream could have snapped at them for doing those two things without his permission and then ordered them to go back to work.

Instead, with a growing feeling of dread, Starscream asked. "Wait...then what's that sound?"

If they were here, it meant the driller was turned off. But the rumbling was getting stronger.

They turned around. Starscream looked up.

" _HOLY PRIMUS!_ "

* * *

"Ah, perfect timing." Somewhat reluctantly, Megatron ordered Soundwave. "Have Laserbeak retreat. For now."

And the feed was cut.

* * *

It was a colossal wall of rust. A rust storm. And it was coming their way.

"Into the ship, quick!" They were heading there by the time Starscream said that anyways.

The sky was turning dark orange. Visibility diminishing. The air was thickening, making it harder to keep moving against the storm. The SIC thought of flying the rest of the way, but had a brief vision of him being flung like a piece of scrap. _Yeah no, not a great idea._

Starscream yelped and crashed into his trinemates just as the full force of the rust storm hit. "Open the door!"

"I'm trying! It's not opening!" Skywarp blindly fumbled to open the door to no avail.

Thundercracker hollered. "It's the rust! It must have jammed the door!" He sat down against the ship. "We'll have to wait out the storm here!"

" _You_ wait out here! _I'm_ going inside!" Starscream pushed past Skywarp, who had followed Thundercracker's lead and sat down next to him, and punched the door. Nothing. The gray seeker dragged his claws across the door, trying to find some sort of seam to force the door open. All it did was dull down his claw tips and make a horrible screech of metal scratching metal.

He huffed and plopped down.

"Gave up huh?" Thundercracker observed.

" _Shut up._ " Starscream spat, scooting away from them. The SIC huddled in on himself, arms crossed. Unfortunately, he only could only get a tiny fraction of space between him and his trinemates. The ship just wasn't wide enough to give Starscream his much needed room, though it admittedly did a good job of acting as a barrier against the worst of the storm.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Starscream realized with a jolt of panic his servos were empty. _The tracker!_

"Idiot! You left the tracker, Skywarp!" Actually, _he_ dropped it, but it was easier to blame it on Skywarp. " _Now_ how are we supposed to find that blasted Energon?"

"Oh, you mean _this_ tracker?" Skywarp proudly waved the device, a stupid grin on his face.

"But how?!" Starscream sputtered, before gaining his composure to sound cool. "I mean, that was a… test to see how you do in the mission. Well done fool."

Skywarp beamed and passed him the energon tracker. "Wow, that's gotta be the nicest thing you've said to me Screamer."

"Don't get used to it. And don't call me that."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're starting to like us." Thundercracker said.

Starscream gave a short, dry laugh. "Ridiculous. On the contrary Thundercracker, I despise you both. I never asked to be in a trine, and especially not with you two."

"Well, we didn't either. None of us did." The blue seeker paused. "Why _did_ Lord Megatron suddenly decide to put us all in trines?"

"Maybe it wasn't his idea." Skywarp suggested. "Maybe some idiot was like 'Trust me, trines are the best. What's the worst that can happen?' And Lord Megatron just shrugged and said 'Eh, ok'."

In a moment of clarity, it dawned on Starscream that everything, the whole forming trines, having to share his room, and now this failure of a mission was all technically his fault until now. Then the moment was lost when it became clear this was all Megatron's fault.

 _After all, it was ultimately Megatron who decided to set the Seekers up in trines. I'm clearly just a victim here and have done nothing wrong and this is absolutely NOT my fault._

 _Still._

"Whoever came up with the idea wasn't an idiot." He muttered, aimlessly fiddling with the tracker and deciding it was much more interesting to look at than his trinemates.

Thundercracker gave him an inquisitive glance. "How do you know?"

"I just do, alright? Now silence! I'm getting rust in my vents." Starscream snapped.

* * *

Eventually, the rust settled and the sun broke through the gradually diminishing auburn haze. Other than being covered in a thick layer of rust, they had survived the rust storm relatively unscathed. A groan was the only warning Starscream got. He looked up just to see rust slide off the top of the ship right onto him, burying him until there was nothing left except the tip of his crest poking out. The pile exploded as a very angry SIC jumped out, brushing the grime off his arms with a disgusted shudder.

"I hate the Sea of Rust!"

Skywarp snickered and leaned against the ship, only to feel something give. The door slid open with a cheerful ding!

"Huh. Button." Skywarp remarked. With the low visibility of the rust storm, the button had been impossible to notice before. "But look on the bright side, we're all in one piece and we can keep going with the mission."

"I don't think so." Thundercracker walked to the tunnel. Looking at it now, the distance between it and the ship was much shorter than it had felt.

Catching up with the blue seeker, they all stared at the entrance of the tunnel. Or where it used to be, since the rust storm had completely blocked it. Which meant the driller, the _only_ driller brought along to the mission was underneath tons and tons of rust.

Starscream started to sort of _twitch_ for lack of a better word, parts of his face convulsing erratically.

Thundercracker noted that and wisely began to step back from the SIC. Skywarp wasn't as perceptive and asked. "You ok?"

"Oh I'm fine." He smiled. It was too wide, optics too bright. "What could possibly make you think otherwise?"

"It sort of seems like you're mad."

"Me? Mad? Ha! I have no absolutely no reason to be mad when everything's been going accordingly. _I've never been better!_ Ha-ha!"

Skywarp was oblivious of what was clearly a stress-induced meltdown, or Starscream being sarcastic. Possibly a combination of both. "Great, because for a second I thought you were mad."

Things were going to get ugly and fast. Thundercracker tried to think of a solution. Then he heard it. The faint rev of engines. Tires crunching the rust. Grounders. No one went to the Sea of Rust unless they had a good reason. It couldn't be Decepticons since they were already there. Which could only mean…

"Look! Autobots! They must have picked up on the Energon signal like we did."

That snapped Starscream back to his usual unbearable self. "Yes, I can see that, fool."

Skywarp squinted, trying to count the approaching enemies better. It was a somewhat difficult feat since the Autobots were driving. _1, 2, 3, why they can't they just stay still? 4, 5… 6? No wait I think I counted that one already. Or did I?_

"We're outnumbered." He finally gave up. "Maybe we should call for back-up."

"NOOOOO!"

They stared at Starscream, who cleared his voice-box. " _No_ , that won't be necessary. We're an elite trine of highly trained Seekers, I say we are more than capable of handling a few pathetic Autobots."

There was that, and also the fact Starscream refused to become a laughingstock to the Decepticons for needing help at the first minor setback to the mission.

"Alright then." Thundercracker nodded. "What's the plan?"

"The plan is you two hold them off while I get away to safety on the ship."

The blue seeker narrowed his optics. "What about us?"

"Well, I need the Autobots to shoot at something else that isn't the ship. You'll have to do." With that, Starscream fled, leaving them to face the Autobots on their own.

Skywarp thumbed over his shoulder. "Did…Starscream just abandon us?"

Thundercracker sighed. "Yes."

The gunfire began, some stray shots peppering the door mere nano-kliks after it closed behind Starscream.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner! It's genius, absolute genius!" Starscream cackled as he got settled in the pilot's seat and started the blast-off sequence. It was such a ridiculously simple solution where the only thing he had to do was fly away while the Autobots did the work for him.

The engine did a pathetic whir where there should've been a powerful roar.

"What the…?" He repeated the process, pressing the right buttons, flipping the little switches, pushing the pedal underneath the steering wheel.

It whirred, breaking up before dying once again. _Blasted rust!_

Starscream slammed his heel into the pedal hard. "Turn on, you slagging worthless piece of junk!"

"Oh, Starscream!" Megatron called in a sing-song voice.

For one delirious moment, Starscream believed Megatron was actually here. His optics almost popped out of his head. "I didn't mean that I swear!"

"What are you talking about?" Megatron was genuinely confused, only able to see what was happening outside where Laserbeak was recording.

To Starscream's utmost relief, he realized the ship was empty other than him and Megatron was just talking to him via the comms.

"Nothing, nothing at all. To what do I owe this unexpected surprise my liege?" With the racket of battle happening right outside, he had to cover his other audial to hear what Megatron was saying.

"I'm just calling in to check up on the mission's status. I presume everything's going smoothly?"

That last word made his left optic twitch in irritation. He didn't even want to think of how utterly ruined his finish had to be at this point.

"Well, there was a bit of, uh… _wind_ a while ago, but other than that yes, things are absolutely fine."

"Excellent. I do hope you're working well with your trine on this mission. Then again, I shouldn't expect anything else, after all, trines were your brilliant idea."

"Yeah, we're really bonding over here. Turns out we have a lot in common and I'm honestly glad we've gotten to know each other." Starscream barely resisted the urge to gag. He was somewhat relieved he didn't have to look like he actually meant all of that. His scowl probably looked odd in contrast to the scrap he was spouting over the comm link.

The gunfire was getting louder. Then something blew up.

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Slight incident with the driller." The seeker blurted. It was the first thing he thought of. "Don't worry, we've got this completely under control."

"I'm sure you do. I expect to see all of you soon." The call ended, leaving him alone.

Starscream leaned back in the pilot's seat and began to ponder out loud.

"I could still leave them with the Autobots and say it was a tragically unfortunate accident. But if there's a chance they survived, Megatron would find out I didn't help. Then everyone would know I didn't want to be in a trine in the first place. I'd have no choice but to admit my idea was terrible and Megatron will _never_ let me live it down."

As if to taunt him, the ship finally deigned to activate, engine thrumming and ready. Starscream growled and banged his head against the steering wheel. "I hate my life."

* * *

Honestly, I'm having more fun than Megatron at this point.

To me, Steve the Vehicon is like the Cybertronian version of Stan Lee. I can't help but throw him in as a cameo whenever I can.

I'm really happy because this chapter is by far the longest thing I've written on Fanfiction.


	4. Chapter 4

This was inspired by an old Snickers commercial.

* * *

Despite being exposed to a rust storm and fighting the Autobots, none of them were seriously injured. The instant they landed back in Kaon, Starscream was ready to bolt for his personal wash-rack and stay in there for a long, _long_ time.

Unfortunately, that was not what was happening right now.

Starscream hated to think his trinemates got a head start in cleaning up and were probably lounging in _his_ room, having the time of their life, while he was stuck in the meeting room giving Megatron a report that Soundwave was silently recording. The warlord insisted that it was best to deliver it now rather than later, to ensure a more accurate recounting.

It was accurate. For the most part. Certain… _unnecessary_ details were excluded. Such as his utter hatred of rust, how he made his trinemates do the hard work for him, and the fact he abandoned them to die.

In his report, Starscream bossing them around turned to them working together in perfect harmony. The driller buried in the rust storm was the aftermath as he heroically got them out of the tunnel before it was too late, and tragically the driller was lost under tons of rust. Then he nobly led them to battle against the Autobots, bravely going in front of course.

"As you can see," Starscream gestured to his roughed up frame. He didn't enjoy looking like this, but his current appearance gave his report more credibility. "It was quite a fierce and intense battle, but thanks to my leadership we ultimately prevailed. Then we returned to Kaon and I'm sure you're aware of the rest."

Starscream quickly wrapped up the ending, eying the door. The only thing standing in between him and the exit was Megatron. The warlord was silent other than the occasional _hmm_ sound that aggravated Starscream to no end since it was impossible to tell if it was a good or a bad _hmm_.

Megatron still didn't move out of the way.

"Hmm. How many, uh… Autobots were there, exactly?"

" _Dozens_ my liege, dozens. We crushed them with ease and left no survivors." In reality, it had only been a small group of Autobots, and there was just a small shoot-out until the trine ran out of ammo and high tailed it out of there. But Megatron didn't need to know that.

"Ah. Hmm, I see." Megatron nodded. He knew Starscream hated being dirty and was desperate to hit the wash-rack, which was _exactly_ why he had to drag it out as long as possible.

A pause. He absently swirled his cube of energon and took a long, slow sip.

By now Starscream was getting more aggravated. He glared at the cube of energon. _I hope you choke on it._

"So."

He perked up with a fake smile. "Yes! Anything else, my liege?"

"Hmm. How was the weather?"

Starscream gawked at him in disbelief. _Is he for real?_ "Like I said. We had a bit of… _wind_."

"Hmm. So I heard. What kind of wind?"

 _This son of a-_ "It was a rust storm sir, a rust storm." He hissed through his denta, hoping Megatron would catch the hint and let him leave.

Megatron quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? A _rust storm,_ you say?" Pause. Swirl. Sip. "How was it?"

Starscream took a deep breath. "It was awful, as you can _see_ ," He pointed at himself. "Does quite a bit of _damage_ on the finish."

 _Alright, I had my fun._ Megatron thought. Also he had run out of questions to delay Starscream even more. "In conclusion, the mission was a failure." He summed up.

" _Yes._ " Starscream said irritated. "Well, it's a good thing we're a good trine." He cleared his vocalizer, trying to end the conversation.

"Indeed." Megatron finally bothered to move out of the way.

Megatron held his stoic face until the SIC left, and then burst laughing. "Ha! Did you see what I did there, Soundwave? Made him wait as long as possible. Quite ingenious on my part. And do you believe that report? Saving them from the tunnel? Going in front in battle? Has to be one of the most farfetched ones he's told me yet!" He laughed, shaking his head.

Soundwave, unsurprisingly, said nothing.

* * *

On the solar cycle they moved in, after Starscream's attempt to keep them in a ridiculously tiny corner had failed, they got their old berths in the room. Thundercracker was sitting on the edge of his berth, savoring the rare moment of solitude and peace.

Peace that was immediately destroyed when he heard the angry stomping down the hallway.

 _It's going to take forever to clean up! Probably longer because I had to wait so long. Blasted rust probably already settled in there!_

The door to their room hissed open and Starscream stormed in muttering curses with a fuming scowl on his faceplates. His wings were erect and flared out, EM field violently lashing out in rage. All painfully clear signs to NOT aggravate or provoke Starscream in any way. The blue seeker heard the sharp clacking of heel thrusters as Starscream stepped in the wash rack. The door slid shut with a soft click…

…And was almost ripped to shreds as Starscream flung it aside and stomped out screeching. " _Which one of you fools used my wax!?_ "

"Your carnauba wax?" Thundercracker asked. It dawned on him that up until Starscream arrived, the room had been quiet. _Too_ quiet.

"Yes, my carnauba wax!" Starscream snarled, looking absolutely livid. "You have any idea of the plot holes I had to deal with to get it here? Now where is it? I know one of you has it!"

"Oh yeah, that!" Skywarp lazily flexed his now glossy servo and smirked. "Really brings out the shine! Thanks for letting me borrow it, _Screamer_."

Starscream saw red.

* * *

Megatron just so happened to be walking by Starscream's room when he, and possibly half of Kaon, heard.

"I SWEAR WHEN I GET YOU I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR SPARK OUT SKYWARP!"

While news quickly spread among the other half of the troops and bets were paid off, among them a very happy Steve who won his cube of high grade, Megatron chuckled. His plan to ruin Starscream's life was working better than he could've ever imagined. The only way it could possibly go wrong was if... The warlord shook his head. _No_. He thought. _There's more chances of Optimus Prime catching cybonic plague before_ _ **that**_ _could ever happen._

 _Right?_

* * *

Ever since I started adding more chapters, I've really wanted to share this short little piece with all of you.

I didn't explain it back in chapter 2 but I consider Trine Me to be a one-shot series, where everything goes in chronological order, rather than a story.


	5. Chapter 5

This chapter got way longer than I expected, which is good since I haven't updated in a while, so I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Shockwave was in his lab, working on his latest doomsday experiment. He strived to deliver results as per Lord Megatron's specifications, his words being exactly, 'I want you to make stuff that will crush the Autobots in the most epic way possible!'

Suddenly, as he was very carefully pouring a beaker of a bubbling blue liquid into another beaker with red liquid, Lord Megatron called him over the comm-links.

 _Shockwave! There's an urgent matter we must deal with. Meet me at the main rec-room, immediately!_

Without waiting for a response, Lord Megatron ended the call. The unexpected interruption had made Shockwave jolt, spilling the contents of the beaker, ruining the experiment and the table it had been performed on. Shockwave watched it dissolve by an ugly greenish puddle.

"Vehicon. I require clean-up in section B-4." Shockwave ordered, already heading to the lift at the entrance of the lab.

The Vehicon currently assigned to work in the lab hurried over, giving a quick salute and a shaky "Y-yes sir" before getting to work.

Shockwave got on the lift and pressed the button that would take him to the floor the main rec-room was located at. It whirred, bringing him up…

Very.

Very.

Slowly.

The cyclops decided that at earliest possibility, he was going to fix that lift. His lab was located several floors under the main rec-room. Considering he couldn't do much at the moment, he started to think. It didn't matter how fast someone could be, it still took time to cross a distance. And in the war, time was a valuable and scarce resource. Urgent matters were happening everywhere and no one could afford to wait until help arrived. However, if there was a way to cut away the travel time altogether, then it could provide the Decepticons with an advantage…some sort of instantaneous transportation through space. Like, a bridge through reality, but what to call such a thing?

He filed that thought away, deciding to start looking more into it at a later occasion. Right now, his focus was on assisting Megatron with the urgent matter. The lift opened with a cheery ping. Shockwave rushed out and transformed to alt-mode, leaving skid marks on the floor. He was too focused on arriving and going so fast that he passed by Megatron at the entrance of the main rec-room. Shockwave screeched to a halt, treads smoking as he transformed back to bi-pedal form and quickly backtracked.

"My lord, I came as fast as I could." He noticed Soundwave was also there. Logic pointed that the TIC must have also been called here by Megatron.

The warlord was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed, and head slightly bowed. His narrowed optics were looking to somewhere in the rec room. He gave a slight nod, acknowledging his presence, and beckoned him closer.

"Look over there," He whispered.

Shockwave started to turn his head, trying to pinpoint where Megatron was looking at.

"Don't make it so obvious!" Megatron hissed. "Use your peripherals."

Shockwave and Soundwave shared a look, equally stumped as to how to follow through with that order, considering Shockwave only had one optic and Soundwave didn't visibly have any optics at all. They did their best, slowly and awkwardly turning their heads.

The warlord seemed satisfied enough. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"The troops taking their daily ration." Shockwave replied.

"Let me rephrase the question. What do you see Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp doing?"

"Taking their daily ration."

"What else?"

"Sitting."

"And?" Megatron pressed.

Both Shockwave and Soundwave racked their processors, trying to guess what their leader was getting at.

"Sitting…together." Shockwave hesitated, briefly enough it wasn't really noticeable. It was really a stretch to say that, since Starscream was on the edge of the bench, as far away as possible from his trinemates.

"Precisely. Sitting _together_." The warlord quietly spat the word out like it was an insult, one he almost couldn't bear to say himself.

"As per your recent order to give all troops assigned seats in the rec-room, specifically, Starscream's trine." Shockwave decided to point out.

Megatron chucked, most likely from remembering when he issued that order. Starscream protested the most when he was told he had no choice but to sit next to his trinemates. Then he practically blew a gasket when he was also told that in order to promote socializing and bonding between trines, he couldn't have his cube alone in his room.

"That's not the point." He shook his head.

The Vehicon, having finally survived his shift down at Shockwave's laboratory, was strolling to the rec-room when he saw the three most intimidating Decepticons hanging around at the entrance and promptly turned around, going back the way he came from. It was because of this wise split-second decision that the Vehicon lived to become Steve.

"I see. You are very...observant." Shockwave was starting to get a little impatient and wanted to get back to his lab. "My lord, what was that urgent matter?"

* * *

Starscream stomped through the hallways. At this point in the war, practically all of Kaon switched to dim Decepticon purple lighting and everyone had long since gotten used to navigating in the near darkness. Not only did this conserve energy that could be better used in the war effort, but it also made the place look much more sinister and Decepticon-y.

"In times like these, we all have to do things outside our usual duties, even those below our rank." He recited Megatron's words and scowled. "Bah, I don't see _you_ taking inventory, Lord Megatron. Besides, why in the Pit would we ever need to know exactly how many energon drillers have had the oil changed recently?"

Because it was a fool's errand and Starscream knew it. Unfortunately, as second in command, there was only one who held rank over him and that was Lord Megatron. Which meant if he ordered the Seeker to walk backwards for a solar cycle, then he had to do it and do it with a face-splitting smile.

 _When I take over the Decepticons I'll never do any reports or inventory. Shame I'd have to offline Megatron to be the new leader, it would've been nice to see the tables turn for once._

With that positive thought in mind, Starscream entered the throne room where Megatron was waiting.

"My liege, the inventory report." He briskly walked across the room, heel thrusters clacking, and all but shoved the datapad into Megatron's servos. The way Starscream saw it, the sooner Megatron finished reading the stupid report, the sooner he could get back to doing his actual job.

"Ah yes, perfect." Megatron turned it on. His eyebrows shot up. The Decepticon leader looked up at Starscream, seemingly about to say something. Instead he paused, and went back to reading, leaning back in his throne as if to get comfortable. He swiped and occasionally chuckled. Every now and then the warlord looked up at him in what Starscream swore to be mild shock before he'd continue to read and kept on swiping. Starscream was starting to get suspicious. _Inventory is not interesting nor amusing in the least. For that matter, I don't remember it having that many slides…_

Megatron looked up once again and smirked. "So, carnauba wax for the shine?"

Starscream's optics threatened to pop out of his helm as he sputtered bits of words and static. _How would he know about that!? I never told anyone else. Unless…_

His gaze fell on the datapad.

 _Flashback…_

Skywarp apprehensively stepped out of their shared room and looked out in both directions to make sure the coast was clear. Turning a corner, he bumped smack into Starscream and jumped back, startled.

"What is _wrong_ with you, buffoon!?" Starscream snapped, wings flaring up aggressively.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." He said with a too wide grin. "Just...passing by." The purple Seeker shuffled around Starscream and hightailed it. Starscream watched him leave for a moment before rolling his optics. Skywarp was just being an idiot like always.

 _Present…_

Without thinking it twice, Starscream gasped, frantically scrambling to take back the datapad. With very little dignity left, he cleared his voice-box. "Excuse me, my liege, I believe the inventory report has been accidently misplaced."

 _Mark my words Skywarp, I'm going to throw you in the smelting pit for this!_

* * *

Starscream peeked around the corner of the hallway and ducked out of sight, pressing himself flat against the wall as two Vehicons passed right by him. The SIC waited a moment to be sure they were gone before speaking up.

"Those two Vehicons circle by the lab every 4 kliks. I'm going on a stretch and I'll assume you're competent enough take them out silently. Then, we'll wait until Shockwave receives a supply delivery in 2.7 kliks and hide in there to infiltrate into the lab. From there, you'll keep a lookout while I hack into the computer to find out what Shockwave's super-secret project is."

Thundercracker sighed. "Yes, you've told us. Multiple times. And as I keep trying to tell you-"

"Why don't we just take the lift?" Skywarp asked, pointing at the aforementioned lift that was across the hallway they were hiding in.

"Clearly, you know nothing of espionage. No one would actually expect someone to be stupid enough to try something foolish like that." Starscream paused, drumming his digits against his chin contemplatively. "Which means…no one will see it coming. It's _foolproof!_ "

"Really?" Skywarp perked up.

"Of course it is. It's my plan." He scoffed and darted to the other side. "Now come on, we have 4 kliks."

"You don't have to do this." Thundercracker said. If it was up to him, he never would have agreed to this plan. But with his personal datapad hostage in Starscream's sub-space, there was very little he could do.

"Quiet, or else." Starscream pressed the button on the panel to the right of the lift, making it open.

It was difficult to wedge themselves inside, wings banging against the walls and each other.

"Would you just-! _Finally_." The gray Seeker huffed as they managed to awkwardly fit, and pushed the button on the inside of the lift. "Now, to the lab."

With a ping, the lift descended. It was a painfully long ride that couldn't end soon enough. To the left of the lift doors was a long line of small circles. It numbered the floors that briefly glowed purple as they descended. Skywarp started humming, a little innocuous sound. Then he was tapping the wall, and from there it escalated to a full-blown racket. It was the birth of what's now known as beatboxing, unfortunately Skywarp would never receive credit for it.

"Stop that!" Starscream barked, ending Skywarp's musical career before it even began.

The lift opened, allowing the trine to pop out and stretch their stiff limbs. Starscream scoured the lab, spotting the computer at the back, and briskly made his way over to it.

He was no Soundwave, but when push came to shove, Starscream could do a pretty good job. His digits danced across the keyboard, activating the computer. It was like he expected. Layers of encryptions, files locked behind firewalls, anything even remotely important was kept under tight security. One wrong move and it could trigger a virus to wipe itself clean. Which meant he needed to focus, and that could only be obtained with absolute silence and no distractions whatsoever.

"Hey Screamer!"

Starscream whirled around, seeing Skywarp standing right there next to him. "What are you doing? You're supposed to keep a lookout! And don't call me that!"

"I got bored." The purple Seeker shrugged. "Besides, there's a ton of cool stuff just lying around here, like this giant gun."

Starscream was suddenly facing the barrel of the weapon and shrieked, arms going up to protect his face. He ducked and ripped the massive gun away.

"Hey, give it back!" Skywarp demanded. "I found it!"

"No, a weapon of such caliber should be handled in the servos of a capable and responsible individual." Starscream's voice was strained as he struggled to carry the gun, legs shaking. _How in the Pit did the fool toll it around so easily?_ He thought, readjusting his grip on the stupid thing when there was a click.

He was thrown backwards to the floor as the gun fired, the shot ricocheting everywhere. Thundercracker and Skywarp dove to cover in the nick of time.

Glass shattered. Chemicals spilled. Equipment broke. Then nothing. It was quiet other than the sound of sparking equipment and sizzling pools of chemicals. They slowly got back up, Starscream with much more effort as he held on to the weapon. Suddenly, lights started flashing red as a deep, monotone voice announced over the alarms. "Warning. Massive systems failure. Situation: Critical. Explosion imminent in 50 nanokliks."

"Now look at what you've done!" Starscream tossed the gun aside like it was a chunk of Tox-En.

"Uh, actually," Skywarp raised his servo, pointing up in a matter-of-factly way, "this is your fault."

"How _dare_ you accuse me of being responsible for this, you two-bit processor moron!" He'd rather be eaten by scraplets before admitting it was his fault.

"It was your 'genius' plan to sneak in here when you could have just asked Soundwave what the project was." Thundercracker pointed out, optics narrowed. "I've been trying to tell you that the whole time."

"Wow. You three are terrible for each other." The computer deadpanned in its flat, artificial voice. "Explosion imminent in 30 nanokliks."

Starscream gaped for a moment. _I…didn't think of that._ "Are you implying I didn't think of that?"

"Well, did you?" The blue Seeker asked. Starscream didn't get the chance to reply.

The computer cut in. "Seriously. This is really not the time to argue. Explosion imminent in 15 nanokliks."

"Scrap!" They yelped in unison. The trine looked back at the lift on the other side of the lab and ran like crazy, cramming into the lift without complaint. Starscream punched the button…

…The doors gently whirred, gradually inching together.

"Ok, is it me or are these doors way slower than usual?" Skywarp asked.

"Shut up Skywarp!" Starscream started pressing all the buttons. They all jumped when Megatron's voice boomed within the lift.

" _Together, we shall crush whoever opposes us!_ "

"It's a recording of Lord Megatron's speeches." Thundercracker realized, glancing up at the ceiling where the speech was coming from. "One of those buttons must have activated it."

"I don't care if one of these buttons lets you talk to Primus, I just want one that makes this slagging lift go faster!" Starscream spat, stabbing the buttons in a frantic frenzy.

The computer voice started counting down. "5…4…3…2…"

"- _it shall be blown away!_ "

"1."

* * *

"Due to these reasons, I request to have my main laboratory moved off Kaon to the Sea of Rust immediately." Shockwave concluded, his voice echoing in the spotless, empty lab. There was almost no detectable traces left of the explosion, the Vehicon squad dispatched to clean-up had done a sufficient job and left a while ago, leaving him to retrieve his invaluable research from the back up computer hard drives.

"Oh, I see what you're doing. _Very_ ingenious."

He didn't suspect anything off. "Yes. The Energon Lake I've located will prove to be an ideal location for the continuation of the space bridge project."

"Perfect, you even have the perfect cover for the real reason you're going there of all places." Megatron cackled. Shockwave could practically see him rubbing his servos together in glee.

"It's not a cover." The cyclops was starting to get the idea that Megatron wasn't just talking about the space bridge project, if he was at all.

"There's no need to pretend around me." He assured. "You, me, Soundwave, we're all in on this."

Shockwave could have lied, claiming he did know what 'this' was supposed to be. However, logically it wasn't the best course of action. If he lied, he wouldn't find out why he was apparently in on. There was also the high possibility of his deceit being exposed at an inconvenient moment.

Logic had yet to fail him, so he decided to be honest. "I fail to grasp what you mean."

" _Sure_ you do."

* * *

It had been several solar-cycles after Starscream's failed attempt to find out about the secret project and since Megatron authorized Shockwave to move said project to the Sea of Rust.

Starscream was still not in a better mood. It was impossible to predict what he'd do next. Sometimes he'd rant for cycles on end. On several occasions he kicked them out of their room. Or he'd sit there fuming and glaring at everyone and everything.

Today they were at the rec-room, sitting in their assigned seats when Starscream suddenly snatched Thundercracker's cube. "Give me that! This is mine now."

The Air Commander downed it all in one go and slammed in on the table. Skywarp snickered at his trinemate's misfortune. His laughing was cut short when Starscream swiped his cube right from his servos and sub-spaced it. "This is also mine."

"Hey! I _needed_ that." Starscream ignored Skywarp's protests and stomped out of the rec-room without another word. He was so angry that he didn't notice Megatron was there and had watched the whole ordeal.

When Megatron summoned Soundwave and Shockwave to the Meeting Room, the latter had a lot of time to think as what the meeting was going to be about since he had to come all the way from the Sea of Rust. After all, it was the Great War, there was countless issues. The Autobots, the energon crisis, the crippling and increasing number of Decepticon casualties, to name a few.

Those theories were shot to the ground the instant Megatron said. "I've summoned you both because I have unquestionable evidence that proves Starscream and his trinemates have become friends."

The first piece of evidence, where the trine was sitting together, was in Megatron's optics undeniable confirmation of his suspicion they were turning into friends. Never mind the fact the _only_ reason they sat together was because Megatron told them to. Megatron also believed Skywarp's prank was a clear sign, since it was something that Cybertronians who didn't stand each other wouldn't do. According to Megatron, only friends would play such humiliating jokes on each other.

The one where they argued was an indication that they were friends because they were communicating in order to solve a conflict. They weren't solving it very well, but the fact they were _trying_ at all in the first place was what counted. And apparently, the insults they threw at each other were terms of endearment.

As for the time Starscream took his trinemate's cubes for no logical reason, Shockwave honestly didn't understand how in any perceivable way Megatron could interpret it as a sign of friendship.

"Data indicates those type of actions are considered to be rude, something not typically done among friends." Shockwave stated.

"That's what Starscream _wants_ you to think." Megatron claimed. "He knows I'm onto him, but what he _doesn't_ know, is that I know he knows I'm onto him!"

Shockwave tried to process what the warlord just said, and glanced at Soundwave who just gave him a nearly imperceptible shrug.

"I see right through his attempts to throw me off his trail! And I've got him this time! Laserbeak." He called. The symbiote de-attached from Soundwave and hovered in front of the warlord over the table, awaiting orders. "Show me the recording taken from the first mission I sent Starscream's trine on."

Laserbeak turned around, rose out of Megatron's sight, and started playing the footage. The image was projected on the wall across from Megatron where Starscream would sit.

"I had Soundwave compile it to the most important… features of interest."

There was nothing Shockwave hadn't already seen. The squabbling, the inability to cooperate, the drill fiasco, etc. The final clip was towards the end of the mission, when they were firing back at the tiny group of Autobots. With the gunfire, it was impossible to pick up what they were saying. From the looks of it, Starscream had tried to direct his trinemates by pointing at the Autobots. Unfortunately, they didn't have very good aim and Starscream seemingly gave up and threw his servos up in frustration.

The video ended, frozen on that image.

"Now show the footage taken from the latest battle with the Autobots and fast forward."

It switched, the tiny figures on the projection moving so fast they were little blurs on the battlefield. Again, it was nothing Shockwave hadn't seen before. They always held meetings to review the recordings. It was to analyze what went right and wrong, deliberate over areas in which to improve for the next time, and point out all the reasons the bad things and failures were Starscream's fault.

"Wait. Go back a couple kliks…there! Enhance image and play the recording."

It was Starscream and his trinemates, flying across the sky in a tight V formation. Unsurprisingly, the SIC was at the front, leading a devastating aerial attack on the Autobots down below.

"Stop! You see it?"

Shockwave leaned in, failing to notice what Megatron was pointing at. "What exactly am I looking for?"

The Decepticon leader sighed and got up, walking to the other side where the projection was. He jabbed a digit at Starscream's trine.

"That! Right there! Isn't it obvious? They must be friends." He slammed a fist on his open servo. "Because how else would you explain the fact that they are performing _better_ out in the field?"

"…The purpose of trines was to gain a tactical advantage in the war. In order for that, it was necessary for trines to learn to cooperate with each other. Hypothetically," Shockwave emphasized the word as best as his monotone voice would allow, "If the trine have become friends, then it would indicate success."

The Decepticon leader shook his head. "No Shockwave. It was never about tactical advantage. If you recall back in Chapter 1, Starscream insulted me when he claimed we failed because of my lack of knowledge on Seekers."

A grudge. Shockwave realized. A simple little grudge over an insult. Grudges weren't new for Megatron. After all he did hold one against Optimus Prime for being bestowed with the Matrix and becoming the Prime, but that grudge was serious. Rational. Logical.

But this? It was simply beyond illogical.

"Then the true purpose of trines was to punish Starscream for his offense." Shockwave stated, being careful to not make it sound as ludicrous as it actually was.

"Yes, you're finally getting it!" Megatron exclaimed. "The point was to show it wasn't my fault we failed that one time. In other words, to prove Starscream was wrong and I was right. I had him trine with the worst possible Seekers because they were supposed to fail!"

He paced more, stopping to glare at the projection. "But instead, they're actually… _getting along!_ It's ruining my plans and I will NOT tolerate this situation anymore!"

Megatron sat back down on his chair and slapped his servos on the table, so hard it rattled. He leaned in and looked at them both, quietly stating.

"We have to do something."

* * *

Dun-dun-dun! Megatron is plotting, and we all know that's never a good thing. Also, STEVE CAMEO!

On a side note, if it wasn't for Starscream, trines wouldn't have happened. Which means Megatron wouldn't have his 'THEY'RE BFFs' conspiracy theory, and he wouldn't have called Shockwave to the rec-room. So Shockwave probably would've never thought of the idea of instantaneous travel. It's truly mind blowing to realize we sorta owe it to Starscream for the existence of space bridges.


	6. Chapter 6

I'm still alive! With my Sonic story complete, I'll be able to focus exclusively on finishing Trine Me. This time, if everything goes according to plan, you won't have to wait over a month until the next and last update.

So without further ado, I give you the penultimate chapter!

* * *

A blue-white beam shot out into space, opening the spacebridge. The remaining Autobots boarded the Ark as Metroplex fell and amidst it all, Thundercracker and Skywarp were flying at top speeds in an effort to reach the imposing Decepticon ship in time.

There were almost there, the ship a short distance away when there was a shrill whistling sound. Something was heading towards them and fast. Thinking it was enemy fire, they dove down and transformed, skidding to a stop right as it landed in front of them with a heavy imposing thud. It was only then they realized it was Lord Megatron, who bared his sharp denta in what seemed to be a friendly grin, but just ended up looking pretty scary coming from their leader.

"Thundercracker and Skywarp. Just the Seekers I was looking for."

They gave him a quick salute.

"Lord Megatron. We barely made it on time." Thundercracker said. "There must have too much interference, because we weren't informed that we're abandoning Cybertron."

"Then how exactly did you become aware of the evacuation?" Maybe it was the lighting or just exhaustion from the long trip, but for a nano-klik the blue Seeker thought he saw a rather evil gleam in Megatron's optics.

"We returned from our mission when we saw everyone head towards that," Thundercracker pointed at the ship, "and quickly managed to catch up on to the situation, sir."

Lord Megatron quirked an eye ridge, but otherwise betrayed no other emotion. "Is that so? Well this is a bit awkward, but…you're not getting on the Nemesis."

They waited a brief moment for him to laugh and say "Sykes! Welcome aboard."

But that didn't happen.

Skywarp, in a move both brave and mostly suicidally stupid, dared to ask. "Why?"

"Because I want you to stay here." The tyrant said slowly as if to a pair of sparklings, pointing at the ground for emphasis.

"Stay." Thundercracker parroted flatly.

"Yes, after careful consideration, I've decided you two are the best suited to be Guardians of Cybertron." Lord Megatron informed them. "In fact, I'm putting Skywarp in charge as Master Guardian."

"Alright, promotion!" He pumped a fist.

Thundercracker turned to gawk at the purple Seeker in utter disbelief. "With all due respect, but," _have you lost your mind? Why would you put Skywarp of all people in charge!?_ "…everyone's leaving. What exactly are we guarding Cybertron from?"

By the time he looked back at Lord Megatron, he was ascending up the transparent yellow lift to the Nemesis.

"HUH? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I'M SURE YOU'LL DO GREAT!" He hollered, as he disappeared from sight.

"Wait-!"

Everything went white, literally, as the massive thruster roared at full capacity, the blast sending them flying back along with a thick cloud of dust, smoke, and debris. Thundercracker smacked head first against something, the remains of some old structure probably, hard. Warnings popped in his vision, almost impossible to see with the blinding light.

A dark blurry shifting blob approached him, constantly splitting into multiple individuals before forming into a single silhouette. Skywarp. His vision sharpened into clarity, the purple Seeker waving a servo in front of his face, yelling to get his attention. He could barely hear him over the sharp ringing in his audials and the violent shaking of the ground.

"-many digits am I holding up?!" Skywarp practically shoved his servo to Thundercracker's face.

He swatted it away with a mildly annoyed grimace. "I'm fine."

Shakily, Thundercracker got up, his systems taking a while to find equilibrium, and rubbed his head. He felt a dent where he hit himself and immediately ran a quick self-diagnostics. To his relief, he didn't have any processor damage.

The dust started to clear, letting them see through the haziness the Nemesis. It had successfully launched and was now rapidly catching up to the Ark.

"Hey, that giant space beam thingy's gone." Skywarp said, pointing up where it used to be. At some point it disappeared when they weren't looking. "What do you think it was for anyways?"

"I...I don't know."

* * *

Megatron headed to the command bridge towards the front of the Nemesis. Passing troops would stop and salute him. He didn't heed them. There was something immensely gratifying when his plans went accordingly. After the meeting where he proved that Starscream's trine was getting along, he came up with the perfect solution to handle the situation. Splitting the trine up.

He started sending Thundercracker and Skywarp away on faraway missions. Sometimes to try to locate a new Energon deposit in some remote corner of the planet, or to confirm alleged sightings of Autobots in Decepticon-controlled territories based off reports that Soundwave made up. Pointless assignments that kept them occupied and away from the front-lines, since Megatron couldn't have them killed simply because Starscream would be more miserable with them alive. That is, when the trine went back to hating each other.

He was also keeping Starscream busy, adding more and more tasks usually done by subordinates or drones on top of his usual SIC duties. There was really nothing like extra work to irk him to no end, making him increasingly prone to snapping at whoever crossed his path. Like his trine, in the brief occasions they returned from their current assignment.

But now that Cybertron and those two Seekers were being abandoned, everything turned out even better than he anticipated.

The command bridge was a flurry. Vehicons posted at various computer terminals below the bridge worked diligently under the supervision of Soundwave. He didn't need to ask to know that Megatron was successful. After all, it had been the TIC who alerted him to when Starscream's trinemates were arriving at the Nemesis.

Megatron looked out from the large viewing screens displaying everything outside, seeing the Ark as the Nemesis caught up.

"Pathetic." He sneered. "This is the so-called Ark? The Autobots have placed all of their hopes on a glorified cargo hauler."

"Soundwave, head to the launching bay and ready the tow cables. You will lead the first wave of the assault." He ordered.

Soundwave gave a nearly imperceptible nod and silently left.

Megatron turned around, intending to go find and fight Optimus Prime, and came face to face with Starscream.

"Ah, Starscream! It's you."

"Yes, it's me." He confirmed. He could've sworn the Decepticon leader had sounded somewhat alarmed. "I wanted to ask, not that it really matters, but have you seen Thundercracker and Skywarp?"

"I'm afraid they..." Megatron paused, pretending to hesitate before breaking the news. In reality, he was trying to think of what to say. With everything going on, he didn't exactly have the time to think of every detail in his new plan. Then it hit him.

Keeping his face grave, Megatron said. "They valiantly sacrificed themselves so we could get off Cybertron."

"I see." Starscream said neutrally. Internally, however, was a different story. _Sacrificing themselves, what a load of scrap! Does Megatron take me for a fool? They'd never do something like that. Thundercracker wouldn't willingly give his life for the cause and Skywarp's a moron._

There was no way it would be that easy to finally be free of them. Believe him - he had already tried once back in their first mission and failed. They were like rust in the undercarriage, a nuisance impossible to get rid of.

Those fools were alive, there was no doubt about it.

Which meant Megatron was _lying_.

Starscream was broken from this realization at the sharp sound of alarms and flashing red lights.

"What is going on?" He demanded, having to yell to get his voice heard over the blaring.

"The spacebridge is growing unstable sir, I don't know how much longer it'll stay open!" Steve informed, looking up from the screen displaying the readings on the vortex.

"Retreat! Retreat!"

"No! Stay on course!" Megatron roared. "We must not let the Autobots escape!"

"Are you _mad?_ We'll be torn apart!"

"Not before I defeat Optimus Prime." With that, he left to find the Prime.

And Starscream ran. He headed towards the launching bay, the increasingly violent shakings in the ship constantly throwing him off balance.

But it was already too late. The Nemesis was rocked, throwing everyone around like pieces of scrap. The ships were being torn apart as they were sucked into the collapsing spacebridge, and everything went black.

* * *

The newly appointed Guardians of Cybertron stared up at the sky long after the Nemesis and the Ark disappeared from sight, heading off to the faraway cosmos.

"Now what?" Skywarp asked. The question hanged in the air. Thundercracker didn't know how two Decepticons were going to guard an entire planet, nor for how long or even from what they were protecting Cybertron from.

There wasn't a manual, protocol, or basic training to tell them what to do in this scenario. But the blue Seeker knew enough common sense and logic to come up with a basic idea.

"We have to set up a base of operations," Thundercracker finally said, "acquire whatever resources we need, and find a way to contact the Nemesis."

"Yeah. That's totally what I was going to say. It's why Lord Megatron made me Master Guardian." Skywarp smugly pointed at himself.

Thundercracker barely resisted the urge to sigh. "Alright, we need to go back to Kaon."

"No way!"

"Kaon wasn't severely affected by the War. It's heavily fortified and has everything we need to set up communications with the Nemesis." He tried explaining, but Skywarp crossed his arms and glared.

"I'm the Master Guardian. You can't tell me what to do."

 _You can't be serious._ The blue Seeker thought. "Then where do you suggest we go?"

"Uh…" It was so quiet Thundercracker could practically hear the cogs slowly turning in the purple Seeker's head, before he replied. "Kaon."

"Brilliant idea Skywarp, truly it is." He deadpanned.

Skywarp didn't seem to catch on to that, instead puffing out proudly. "That's right, because I'm the Master Guardian and I said so."

Thundercracker watched Skywarp march off a few paces to "lead" them before asking, "You do know you're going in the wrong direction right?"

* * *

Skywarp didn't notice exactly when they split up. He had just been wandering around the empty city-fortress, and by the time he stepped inside the infamous Meeting Room, Thundercracker wasn't there anymore.

"This sure brings back memories." He remarked to the empty air, glancing at the table and the chairs before his gaze landed on The Chair, the most important seat of all.

Skywarp smirked, strolled over and plopped down on the Chair without thinking it twice. As it was meant for Lord Megatron, the Chair was way too big for him. He swung his legs, blown away at how his pedes didn't reach the ground.

 _Wow, you can just feel the power coming from this thing._ He thought, settling in before slamming his servos on the armrests. "Bow before the almighty Skywarp! Fear me-oh hey what's this?"

He looked down, lifting his right arm where he felt something different than metal. He had never previously been this close to the Chair. No one had. Which was why he'd never noticed that on the right armrest there was a rectangular panel with several unlabeled buttons.

Naturally, Skywarp pushed one. He nearly jumped out of the Chair before realizing it had simply leaned back. The next two, he soon found out, made the Chair go up and down. He messed around with this option a few times before slowly descending, almost disappearing entirely under the table before springing back up like a rocket.

One activated a massage mode, sending him to a world of bliss and relaxation.

"Ah..." Skywarp sighed, voice breaking up in sync with the vibrations. He sank, literally, as he had pressed the down button. Eagerly, he tapped the last button, only for the chair across the table to vanish.

 _Huh._ The purple Seeker leaned forward, seeing a gaping black hole in the floor. _Wasn't that Starscream's chair?_

" _Skywarp!_ "

"Ah!" He jumped, almost falling off the Chair like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't, which…was exactly what happened.

"It's me." Thundercracker said.

"I know it's you, duh." Skywarp rolled his optics. "I was just testing you."

There was a long, heavy silence, before Thundercrakcer asked. "What are you doing?"

"Don't question me, I'm the Master Guardian! Besides, I could ask the same thing to you. What are _you_ doing?"

"Searching for supplies."

"Yeah. That's what I was doing too."

"…From Lord Megatron's chair?"

"It gives me a better vantage point."

The blue Seeker slowly squinted, narrowing gaze intensely scrutinizing like he could find out every little secret and internal thought if he stared at it hard enough. "Skywarp, you're a horrible liar."

"No I'm not, shut up!" He banged his fist on the left armrest, making a resounding clank.

"If Lord Megatron was here you'd be offline." Thundercracker pointed out.

"But he's _not_. C'mon, you can't tell me you've never wanted to sit in the Chair." Skywarp patted the armrest invitingly.

"No." He said.

"Okay fine." He didn't want to drop the issue until he got Thundercracker to admit he did want to sit in the Chair, but decided to temporarily let it slide. "Anyways, I've been thinking."

"That's new."

"Huh?" He blinked, the meaning of the comment eluding him, and continued. "As Master Guardian, I say we should go see what's inside Lord Megatron's room."

"What? No, we need to find supplies." Thundercracker was not going to waste valuable time with Skywarp's antics. It didn't matter that Skywarp technically had a higher rank.

"Megatron isn't even here. I don't have to listen to you."

Skywarp squinted. "Fine. When we contact the Nemesis, I'm gonna tell Megatron that you didn't listen to me."

Thundercracker threw his servos up, reluctantly agreeing.

"Ok," he sighed. "Let's get it over with."

* * *

Despite knowing the Nemesis had left Cybertron, Thundercracker couldn't help but constantly glance over his shoulder, half-expecting Megatron to pop out of nowhere and shoot them with his fusion cannon for their insolence. Meanwhile, Skywarp was listing off all the things that were in Lord Megatron's room, each one more ridiculous than the last.

"I bet he has heads of Autobots as trophies on the walls and a gold fountain with high grade. Oh, and a giant hot oil tub…"

Thundercracker ignored him as they slowly headed up to the upper levels of the tower via the lift. There was still power in Kaon, probably from the back-up generators, a fact he was grateful for. The last thing he wanted is to take even longer by going up the stairs listening to Skywarp go on and on about all the wondrous things that were in Lord Megatron's room.

Still, he tried not to notice the weak flickering of the dim lights, and _especially_ not how high they had to be at this point. If the power suddenly went out and they fell…

The doors opened with a cheerful _ding!_ and Thundercracker released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

And there it was. The door leading to Lord Megatron's room. The only thing separating them from whatever lurked inside.

"I should be able to hack into the door." Thundercracker said, cutting Skywarp off. "But it might take a while."

"How long?"

"A _while_."

"I'm gonna shoot it." Skywarp suddenly declared, the only warning the blue Seeker got before shots whizzed right by him, peppering the door with a non-stop barrage until it was blown clean off. He wasn't surprised to see Skywarp with his weapons drawn out, who laughed manically before rushing in the room.

"…that works too." From the half-scorched, half-mangled doorway, Thundercracker gave the room a look-over.

Skywarp eagerly checked everything out. From under the berth, to the standard wash-rack, to carefully running his servos across the walls for hidden panels. It wasn't until he swept the entire area that the laugh dwindled to silence as it dawned on him what Thundercracker had noticed from the start.

Other than how everything was larger than normal, there was nothing interesting. No personal stashes of high-grade. No datapads with long hatred-fill rants dedicated to Optimus Prime. No personal keepsakes of any kind. Nothing. Just a typical, empty room.

"Well this sucks." Skywarp huffed. "There's not even one stupid Autodork head on the wall. Ok, to Soundwave's room!"

"Wait, you want to go there?" Just the mere mention of the unsettling Decepticon was enough to make him uneasy, a reaction any normal Cybertronian who knew or simply heard of Soundwave would have.

Apparently not Skywarp, who nodded all too eagerly. "Yeah, we already went in Lord Megatron's room. We can't get into more trouble than that."

Thundercracker sighed. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that is actually a decent point."

"Course it is! I said it, didn't I?" Skywarp grinned cockily.

"Besides, there could be something useful." He added.

Which was actually the only reason he was going along with Skywarp's stupid idea. Though if the TIC's room was anything like their leader's quarters, he doubted they'd actually find anything. Still, it was better to be absolutely sure before sweeping other areas in Kaon.

"Why do you have to make the coolest things boring?" Skywarp groaned. "But hey, maybe it's Soundwave who has dark secrets in his room, like a holo-pic of his face! Watch out for the quiet ones, that's what I always say."

The blue Seeker shot him a long, level look. "I have been stuck with you since the beginning of the war and you've never said that before."

"Yes I have, you just never noticed before."

"I'm not having this conversation."

Moments later, they silently walked out of the room.

"If Megatron's room was normal, Soundwave's was just depressing." Thundercracker said, voice echoing in the empty hallways.

Skywarp nodded. "As Master Guardian, I say we should now go to Shockwave's room!"

"I don't think he actually has one." The blue Seeker wryly said.

It seemed the scientist was always in some lab at all times, never going out to get a cube at the rec-room or mention anything about retiring to his quarters. Then he relocated himself and his secret project to the Sea of Rust, so did Shockwave have rooms in both Kaon and the Sea of Rust or did he simply recharge at whatever lab he was in?

As if reading his thoughts, Skywarp shrugged and started walking down in the opposite direction they had come in. "Only one way to find out."

* * *

"Alright, we did what you wanted. We looked through the rooms and found nothing. Can we now go looking for supplies?"

"Fine, but only because I, as Master Guardian said so."

"Finally." He muttered. "Let's split up, get what we can find and meet back at the Meeting room in one cycle."

Skywarp frowned disapprovingly. "Hmm..."

He rolled his optics and phrased it as a question instead. "How about we split up, get what we can find and then meet at the Meeting room in one cycle?"

"Yes, as Master Guardian, I give my approval."

 _This is getting really annoying, but at least it can't get any worse._ Thundercracker thought. He was proven wrong when the cycle ended, by which point he managed to find a few things. A couple of low-grade energon cubes, a broken handheld medical scanner, and a surprising amount of weapons just lying around everywhere in a careless, haphazardly manner.

He arrived at the Meeting room only to find Skywarp sitting cross legged on the Chair, servos on his knees similar to a meditative pose. His optics were closed and he was quietly humming. But what really made his wings bristle was the fact there was absolutely zero supplies with the purple Seeker.

All in all, Thundercracker was very tolerant of his antics. But today was the Exodus of Cybertron, qualifying it as one of the most stressful solar-cycles he'd gone through, and his patience was wearing dangerously thin.

"Have you seriously been sitting here the whole time?" For the first time in his existence, he wanted to be proven wrong. He really wanted to see that in actuality, Skywarp just had the supplies in his sub-space, because Thundercracker just wanted at least _one_ thing to go right for once.

No response. Just humming.

"Skywarp. _Skywarp_! I'm talking to you."

"Master Guardian no longer responds to that name." He solemnly said. "You are to refer to me as Master Guardian the Ultimate."

Thundercracker wanted to throttle Skywarp. _Oh for the love of-wait. If I don't call him by that stupid title, he won't talk to me. Huh. This could actually work._

"Okay." The blue Seeker said and walked away.

Skywarp cracked open an optic. _Did he... did he just leave?_

"Pfft!" He scoffed into the empty room. "Fine. Whatever. See if I care. Master Guardian the Ultimate doesn't need anyone."

3 solar cycles later...

Skywarp was out of ideas. First he stayed quiet, planning to wait out for the blue Seeker to talk. When that didn't happen after several cycles, he knew he had to change his strategy. He decided not to bother him, staying on his least-annoying behavior. He even started to help out more by scavenging for useful things. Nothing. Thundercracker kept giving him the cold shoulder, not showing any signs of acknowledging his existence anytime soon.

He trailed after the blue Seeker who was walking down a long dark hallway. He didn't know where Thundercracker was going, he just followed.

"Ok I'm sorry!" He blurted, unable to stay quiet any longer. "You don't have to call me Master Guardian the Ultimate anymore! I'll stop calling myself that, just talk to me!"

Thundercracker stopped. Any other Decepticon would have kept it going just for the kicks. But he just wanted Skywarp to drop the 'Master Guardian' thing, and did legitimately believe any longer and the purple Seeker would go insane.

Still, he regretted his decision before he turned around and quietly said. "Fine."

"Oh you have no idea how hard that was." He gasped, clutching his chest. To him, not talking was a physically painful experience. "I know I make it look easy, but it's not. There was so much stuff I wanted to say, and now I can tell you all about it!"

Thundercracker groaned, already missing the brief period of peace as Skywarp happily caught him up three solar cycles worth of mindless chatter. _Primus, kill me now._

* * *

I think it's fitting that a mysterious character such as Soundwave has an equally mysterious room which is never described.

Despite it being way shorter than previous chapters, it still took me a while to do. I wanted to give an urgent, there's-no-time-left feel, which is why the parts with Megatron and Starscream have shorter exchanges of dialogue.

Also, STEVE CAMEO! I just seriously can't get enough of this guy. :)


	7. Chapter 7

This story has become my pride and joy, so I really wanted the last chapter to be top-notch grand finale material even if I took a little longer than planned. I appreciate your patience, because I know I would've lost my mind if I was reading a story from an author who takes forever to update.

With that out of the way, here's a nice long chapter to wrap the story and the year up.

Enjoy!

* * *

Dim light emanated from the blue screens of the many computer consoles lining the walls of the Meeting Room. It had long since been repurposed to a makeshift communication hub, since it was the highest point in Kaon that allowed minimal interference from the building itself while also being protected enough from the elements such as acid rain.

Actually, that was a lie. There was a higher place than this. Lord Megatron's room, but Thundercracker didn't put the hub there out of a sense of respect for what was a private, personal area. It was a good thing that Skywarp got fed up with dragging the equipment all the way to nearly the top, because otherwise he would have definitely insisted on using Megatron's room instead of the Meeting Room.

Thundercracker fiddled with the controls, trying to fine tune the frequency, and cleared his voice box before he pressed the send button.

"This is Thundercracker, contacting the Nemesis. Over." He waited, cranking his audials all the way to max to try to pick up on anything other than crackling static. Nothing. He tried again.

"Nemesis. Do you read me? This is Thundercracker. Over."

Static.

"This is Thundercracker. Can _anyone_ hear me? Over."

Even if there had been a response, he never would have heard it, as something in the machinery frizzled and all the screens suddenly went dark.

* * *

In reality, each and every one of Thundercracker's calls got to the Nemesis, right through Soundwave.

And following Megatron's orders, each and every one of those calls were immediately ignored and methodically erased from the Nemesis databases.

This one was no exception. All traces of it had been wiped by the time Starscream arrived at the command bridge.

* * *

Skywarp invited himself in the communication hub before rapping on the door frame. "Hey, you busy?"

"Yes." Thundercracker was on his back under one of the computer terminals with a screwdriver and his trusty datapad propped up to his side, displaying a manual with a long detailed set of instructions on how to operate, maintain, and repair a computer.

"Great. Remember that time Screamer blew up Shockwave's lab?" Skywarp could imagine Thundercracker rising an eye ridge skeptically from underneath the console as he scoffed and said, "If I recall correctly, it was you who found the gun that destroyed the lab."

"The details aren't important, TC." He insisted. "Do you remember how Screamer wanted to find out Shockwave's secret project or not?"

With the last screw off, the panel popped out, releasing a puff of dark smoke. Thundercracker waved it away and looked inside. _As I suspected. Fried wires. It's always fried wires_. "Yes Skywarp I do. Why are you bringing this up now?"

"Because we never did find out what that secret project was."

"You want to go there." He translated, counting how many wires would have to be replaced.

"Yup. I'm bored."

"If you're bored, you can always do those things I asked you to do." Thundercracker remarked as he carefully started pulling out the damaged wires.

"I already did."

"All 437?"

"Uh...I meant to."

"Sure you did."

"Oh come _on!_ Don't you want to find out?"

"Unless it will aid the mission, no." Thundercracker bluntly said.

"It could." Skywarp suggested.

Knowing he wasn't going to get any work done with Skywarp bugging him, he simply stopped, stood up and asked. "What's your point?"

"I'm just saying. Shockwave's lab is full of state-of-the-art tech and equipment that could maybe be used to, I don't know… contact a faraway ship?" He popped the 'p' at the end, shooting a sly sideways glance.

"But what do I know?" The purple Seeker shrugged. "Why don't you try calling the Nemesis again? After all, it's worked so well the last thousand times."

"Alright, we're going." He conceded. "For the mission."

Skywarp didn't even try to hide how he pumped a fist with a quiet yes.

* * *

Starscream was on the command bridge, doing his usual daily round of keeping everyone in check. By which he would just hang around, looming over the shoulders of the troops to supervise their work for a while before stalking off to find something else to kill the time with. Ever since leaving Cybertron, his workload had dramatically decreased.

He couldn't exactly do his usual Air Commander duties when they were out in space with no Autobots in sight. The most he did nowadays was supervise the Nemesis, making sure everyone was working and the ship wasn't falling apart, and even that got repetitive after a while.

It was a mood reflected by everyone. The troops were starting to spend more time in the shooting ranges, trying to expel some pent-up energy and pass the time. Even Megatron was getting affected, though he would express it with an increasing disposition to punch whoever was unlucky to cross his path. Maybe Shockwave was also affected, but Starscream didn't talk to him though, so he couldn't tell for sure.

It wasn't peace. It was processor-numbing boredom.

The only one who seemed absolutely fine was Soundwave, who was at his post in the bridge as usual.

The only positive side was that Starscream now had a lot of time to himself, something he took full advantage of to think. Specifically, on the brief conversation he had with Megatron during the Exodus. He obsessively reviewed that memory over and over again, analyzing and dissecting every little detail. He spent many cycles trying to piece it all together to find a meaning to all of it.

Ultimately, all Starscream knew for certain was three things. First and foremost, the obvious fact that Thundercracker and Skywarp didn't make it aboard the Nemesis. Second, which was why he began to look into this matter in the first place, that Megatron told him that they sacrificed themselves. And lastly, that if he wanted to find out the truth, he was going to have to do it himself.

It was easier said than done.

Despite having a higher rank, Starscream couldn't just order Soundwave to check that there weren't any signals indicating Thundercracker and Skywarp were still on Cybertron. It wasn't as simple as that.

Because if he asked him, Soundwave would go straight to Megatron and tell him that Starscream was questioning his leadership, or something patriotic like that.

No. He needed to be sneaky about this. Luckily, that was practically second nature to him.

Under the guise of supervising one of the Vehicons, he watched as a small group left their posts as others filled in for the next shift. Just like he timed it.

"Hmm, I suppose that'll have to do." Starscream muttered. "Carry on."

He got outside the bridge and nonchalantly trailed after the group at a distance, before disappearing around a corner. They were none the wiser.

Steve the Vehicon was just passing by with a few of his buddies, minding his own business when Starscream jumped out of his hiding spot and pointed at them. "You there!"

The plan had been set off in motion. There was no going back.

* * *

Shockwave's old lab in the Sea of Rust had been abandoned for a very long time and it showed. Everything inside was caked in rust, floating particles visible in the air through the beams of red light their optics provided.

Skywarp kicked a piece of debris. "Huh. Is it me or does the place look trashed?"

The whole place did look wrecked, and it wasn't just because of how long it'd been left to rust. Something clearly went very wrong here.

"It does." He agreed, wiping rust off the screen of a computer terminal. "There should be a back-up power system. If the computer database is still intact, we'll find out the secret project. Maybe even what happened here."

The computer weakly crackled to life, flickering erratically. It was a miracle anything still worked considering the conditions the lab was in.

 _Hopefully the data isn't too corrupted_ , Thundercracker thought as he started the first audio log.

"Lab Report 1161. Experimentation continues." It was Shockwave. His voice was a bit fuzzy and occasionally cracked due to the half-broken glitchy computer, but was understandable enough. "Effectively meshed Autobot source code with the most ferocious of creatures detected on target planet…"

"Target planet?" The blue Seeker murmured.

Skywarp threw his head back. "Ugh, this is even worse than the Iacon Hall of Records."

"Hey, it's information. It's useful."

"It's _boring_." He countered. "So if you don't mind, I'm gonna go find the project. Or a cool gun. Whatever comes first."

"Bad idea. We're not familiar with the layout. Not to mention the lab could be highly unstable and dangerous."

The purple Seeker rolled his optics. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be careful. First to find the secret project wins!"

"It's not a competition- _Skywarp!_ " Seeing that he wasn't coming back, Thundercracker shouted. "At least keep your comms open!"

Skywarp casually made his way through the dark rusty corridors, snooping in and out of all the rooms that he found.

"The lab's super dangerous." He mimicked Thundercracker's words and stopped upon seeing a pipe on the ground.

"Ooh, a pipe, so scary! Pfft, yeah right." He took a step forward, looked up and nearly smacked right into an Insecticon.

Skywarp screamed and reeled back, aiming his built in weapons at it before realizing it wasn't moving. In fact, it was all mangled and covered in rust. Pointing at it with one arm, he quickly crouched to pick up the pipe and hesitantly poked it.

 _Yup. Definitely dead._ He thought, lowering his weapons, and walked by it pretty fast to get to the next room.

Unlike other places that were filled with boring science-y things, this place was a large, dark dome-shaped room. There was nothing in it, except an inconspicuous looking lever at the center which was beckoning him closer. The way he saw it, if he wasn't supposed to pull the lever, then it shouldn't have been there in the first place. With that resolution, he reached out and pulled it.

Meanwhile, Thundercracker had finished going through the audio logs. So far he had learned about Insecticons, Shockwave's experiments with a group of captured Autobots, and most importantly the secret project. The spacebridge.

He was now trying to see if he could access any final communications that occurred. There was something that kept getting referred to. Something called the Target Planet. It was where Shockwave got the inspiration to create the 'Dinobots', it was mentioned to be rich in energy, and apparently Megatron planned to plunder its resources to restore Cybertron. But nowhere, could he find where the planet was located.

The recording started playing.

"Megatron! I have successfully opened a bridge to the target world. The portal is stable, and ready for you."

"Excellent, Shockwave!" Megatron said. "Trypticon's conversion into the Nemesis spaceship is-"

"No one controls GRIMLOCK!" The Dinobot bellowed. Something tore and there was the distinct sound of transformation.

"Impossible." Shockwave barely had the time to say. Thundercracker heard something rip and crunch. Grimlock released a deafening roar and the audio was abruptly cut off.

He shut off the terminal. Once again, the Target Planet was mentioned, but he was no closer to finding out where it was.

 _I could really use a map right about now,_ Thundercracker thought.

"Hey TC," Skywarp called over the comm. "Guess what?"

"What?" He flatly asked. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was getting Skywarp out of whatever vent he got stuck in.

"Okay, so I was looking around and I totally didn't get scared by a dead Insecticon. I didn't scream like a wimp." Thundercracker was just waiting until Skywarp begged him for help, when he said, "…and then I found some sort of map room."

His optics widened. "Wait, did you say map?"

"Yeah, it's like a universe map. There's Cybertron, Velocitron, Junkion, and _way_ over here, is Target Planet. What type of dumb name is that anyways?"

"Send me your coordinates! Don't touch anything else until I get there, don't even move." Thundercracker ordered, as he headed out in the same direction Skywarp had a while ago.

* * *

The group of Vehicons strained to carry the computer consoles, salvaged from seldom used areas of the ship. In hindsight, it wouldn't have been so hard to take them from Point A to Point B, but it seemed Starscream wanted to take the longest, most convoluted path. They were constantly back-tracking and going new ways to avoid detection from other Vehicons and Soundwave's surveillance.

Steve couldn't see where they were going, as he was stuck in the rear of the mini-caravan with the console blocking his view. He could have sworn they had walked around the Nemesis at least four or five times before Starscream stopped. He knew that because the Vehicon carrying the other side of the computer stopped.

"We're here." Starscream said, and Steve managed to get a quick peek from the side. He didn't recognize the place. It was somewhere on the ship Steve had never gone before.

Then they started moving again, and Steve realized they were going inside a room.

"You better not think of dragging it! If I see a _single_ scuff mark on my floor, mark my words, you will face my wrath!" The Seeker hissed.

Steve immediately lifted up his side from where he had almost dropped it.

"I want them on the right- _my_ right, not yours! Don't put them that close together you morons! Now slowly lower the consoles into position…well not _that_ slow, I'll rust by the time you're done. There, finally." Starscream nodded.

"About time..." Steve quietly groaned, rubbing his arms.

Starscream whipped his head around, so fast and hard everyone cringed at the resounding crack of his neck. "What? Who said that?"

"I...I did sir." Steve admitted.

The SIC peered, trying to pinpoint the perpetrator among the group to no avail. Vehicons looked exactly the same, and their simple faceplates never moved when they talked, so he had no idea who it was.

Any other time Starscream would have pushed on and tried to weed out the complainer, but he had more important things to do.

"Very well, you'll be doing monitor duty for the next 10 solar cycles." He declared, vaguely facing the group. He could only hope that it wasn't obvious he couldn't tell who he was even punishing.

"Yes sir." Steve replied. Monitor duty was the worst, but it was definitely better than being off-line.

"Good." Starscream huffed and gave a dismissive wave. "Now, you may all disperse."

The Vehicons looked among themselves in utter confusion, staying exactly where they were.

He rolled his optics and tried again. "Your presence is no longer required."

They shared more blank stares with each other, and neither moved.

"Shoo! Get out of here or I'll throw you out the airlock!"

They hightailed it. He rubbed his temples and muttered. "I swear they're just as stupid as Skywarp."

Starscream made his way to the computers and turned them on. He couldn't stay too long, he'd have to go back to the bridge before his prolonged absence was noticed.

Now began the second phase of his plan.

* * *

When all was said and done, and Thundercracker finished revealing everything he had learned, the first thing Skywarp said was, " _Oh_ , so that's what that giant space beam was."

"Was that seriously the only thing you got from all of _this_?" He gestured to the map around them.

"No, I got something else."

"What?"

The purple Seeker grinned. "That if it wasn't for me, you would've never found out where the Target Planet is."

"I would have found it eventually regardless." He pointed out. "Besides, the chances of you finding the planet first was one in a million."

"Face it TC, I pretty much did all the work." Skywarp started heading down the spiral staircase before noticing Thundercracker hadn't moved. "Hey, the exit is over there."

"We can't stay here."

"Say what?"

"I'm unable to contact the Nemesis. They must be out of range or something went wrong. Either way, we have no reason to further stay on Cybertron."

"Well, well, well, I never thought I'd hear you suggest to quit our job assigned to us by Megs himself." Skywarp cheekily smiled.

"Do you want to stay?"

"Nah, I'm all onboard for ditching the planet. I just never expected you to say it. I mean, aren't you supposed to be the responsible and loyal one?"

Thundercracker ignored the comment. He looked at the little blue planet. "This is where the spacebridge coordinates lead to. It's our best chance at finding the Nemesis, or at the very least, getting in communication range."

"Then we're gonna need a ship." Skywarp said. "There's has to be a piece of junk around we can fix up."

The blue Seeker shot him a quizzical look. "Who's this 'we' you keep talking about?"

"You and me, buddy! Think about it, the two of us, in a spaceship, slowly traveling through the universe." Skywarp slung his left arm across Thundercracker's shoulders and swept his right arm dramatically out towards the sky.

When he summed up the plan like that, it suddenly sounded like a really bad idea and Thundercracker wanted to back out. But he couldn't. The reality was that what little resources remained on Cybertron was going to run out sooner or later, so regardless if finding the Decepticons was really worth his sanity, they had to get off the planet.

 _It'll be just like how it is now._ Thundercracker thought, trying to delude himself into believing it wasn't going to be that terrible. _Except in a confined space with nowhere to escape for who knows how long…_

 _Primus, give me strength._

He flicked Skywarp's servo off his shoulder. "We both know I'll end up doing all the work."

"And I'll be there to cheer you on all the way." He assured.

The blue Seeker sighed.

"Hey TC, the spacebridge was smashed mid-way. How do we know they made it to the other side?"

If Megatron was here, he would've shot Skywarp to smithereens for questioning the plan. If they were Autobots and Optimus Prime was here with them, he would've given some sort of motivational speech about hope or whatever.

Thundercracker wasn't like them.

He knew he wasn't a leader, didn't want to be one, and he wasn't used to making these kind of decisions. But the burden of leadership was thrust upon him regardless because the only other option was Skywarp.

For all he knew, they could be the last Decepticons, last Cybertronians left and it would be absolutely pointless to try to find them and lose his sanity.

What he did know for sure was that neither Megatron nor Optimus Prime were here. It was just him and Skywarp was still waiting for an answer, so he said the truth.

"We don't."

Skywarp simply nodded, too blissfully idiotic to grasp the severity of the situation. "Cool. Let's do it."

* * *

Starscream glanced out the viewing screens at the front of the command bridge. It looked exactly the same as the last time he checked. Out in space, without a sun to orbit around to witness how the cycles passed, time just lost its significance. It wasn't until he checked his chronometer that he could tell they weren't forever stuck in a moment.

He flexed his servos, trying to keep them from drumming. He had to look like he wasn't waiting to find out the definitive truth regarding the fates of his trinemates.

Honestly, if it wasn't for Megatron's outlandish claim of them sacrificing their lives for the cause, Starscream would have never suspected anything amiss. Nor would he had been able to tell if they were off-line. A trine could sense when the other members were functional, injured, or off-line. (Contrary to misconceptions stemming from Golden Age sappy drama stories, the latter didn't kill off the rest of the trine.)

They had never reached any of those things, scrap, they could barely work together when the situation called for it. Their trine bond, while permanent, had weakened over the vast time and distance separating them to the point Starscream really needed to concentrate just to feel it. He couldn't rely on it to sense whether those fools were still online or not.

So he couldn't do anything else other than wait for the computers in his room to finish scanning Cybertron and act completely normal in the meantime.

 _This is getting nowhere._ He thought, looking at the other bots in the bridge, who were also pretending to be busy.

 _I might as well just leave, but everyone is bound to notice if I suddenly take off. I need to be discreet._

"Huh? What's that my liege?" He loudly asked, making sure everyone could hear him, and pressed two digits on his audial. "Uh huh, yes I see, uh huh, very well." He nodded and terminated the 'call'.

"As much as it pains me to have to leave you all," Starscream mournfully sighed, "our illustrious leader requires my presence."

He left.

No one noticed.

Starscream shot glances around as he made his way to his room, checking that he wasn't being watched or followed, before he quickly went in his quarters and dashed for the computers.

The scan was complete.

"Finally, it's about time." He muttered. "Now let's get to the bottom of this."

On the screen were two signals, positively identified as Thundercracker and Skywarp.

He smirked. "I was right! Megatron _did_ lie, those fools are still online-" He stopped mid-gloating as his own words registered in his processor. "What?! They're still online?"

Starscream looked back at the screen. The signals hadn't disappeared, instead mocking him with their undeniable existence. _I don't even know whether to be outraged or impressed that they still manage to ruin my life from half-way across the galaxy. No, wait. I'm just outraged._

He'd been so bent on confirming their demises himself out of paranoia and a conviction that it couldn't possibly be so easy to finally be free, that he never considered the possibility that the opposite could happen.

"Oh no…"

Things just got a whole lot more complicated.

* * *

With that ladies and gentlemen, Trine Me is now complete!

There's going to be a sequel following TC and Warp after they leave Cybertron, titled Off Course, which I plan on posting sometime next year so keep an eye out for that.

For the meantime, I'm going to work on a few other one-shots before I do the sequel.

And last but not least, STEVE CAMEO! You can bet this guy will always be making an appearance in my TF stories.

See you all next year!


End file.
